Early morning.
Manhattan, Vought Tower top floor office.
The sun shines on the carpet.
John is leaning on the office chair, holding a pen in his hand and quickly flipping through the documents on the table.
He didn't have his usual straight face, nor did he frown because of the tedious public relations report in the file.
On the contrary, he signed quickly.
If you listen carefully, he is even humming a song.
Ashley stood in front of his desk holding his tablet computer, staring at his boss without blinking.
How did you change from Homelander to a rocker today?
It's so abnormal.
In Ashley's impression, even when his immediate boss was smiling in front of the camera, there was always a faint indifference in his eyes.
But today, that suffocating feeling of oppression has completely disappeared.
John The whole person exudes an emotion called happiness from the inside out.
His shoulders were relaxed, his eyebrows were stretched, and even his lips, which were usually pursed in a straight line, had an obvious arc today.
My whole body is full of energy and energy.
Ashley swallowed a gulp of saliva, lowered his head to look at the schedule in his hand, and forced himself to report.
"Sir, Godolkin University sent a formal invitation letter."
Ashley spoke very fast, for fear of disturbing the boss's good mood,
"Three days later is their freshman admission day, which is also the traditional Homecoming. The school hopes that we can send a few Superheroes to support them."
She paused and carefully added, "Of course, they most hope that you can attend in person."
In normal times, when she would go to school to act as a mascot for a group of young Supe, sometimes John wouldn't even bother to listen, and would just impatiently wave her away.
But today, John just stopped holding the pen in his hand.
He raised his head, there was no trace of displeasure in his blue eyes, but he nodded simply.
"Okay, just reply to them and I'll be there on time."
Ashley was stunned.
Just agreed?
Not even asking about the specific process and personnel arrangements?
The atmosphere in the office was so relaxed that Ashley even had a slight illusion.
She looked at John's rarely sunny face, and her curiosity overcame her instinctive fear of beating the workers.
"Sir."
Ashley boldly asked, "You... seem to be in a particularly good mood today?"
As soon as the words left his mouth, Ashley regretted them.
She wished she could slap herself. She usually had no time to hide, but today she dared to inquire about the private affairs of this living king of hell.
She tensed her back nervously, preparing to meet John's cold eyes.
Under normal circumstances, this officer would not even bother to respond to half a word of non-work nonsense.
However, the expected silence did not happen.
John put down the pen in his hand and leaned back on the chair.
He was not angry, he just turned his head and looked at the high blue sky New York outside the floor-to-ceiling window.
"Someone said they would prepare a birthday present for me."
John turned around and looked at the stunned Ashley, "Aren't you happy? I haven't celebrated my birthday in many years."
Vought Outside, the sun is shining brightly.
The streets are filled with office workers carrying brown paper bags and coffee cups.
Several Vought Supe in tight-fitting uniforms were standing on the street corner, cooperating with the traffic police to ease the heavy traffic flow during the morning rush hour.
Metropolis's life pace is always so fast.
Workers hurried to their workstations, and tourists posed in front of the scenic spots.
Everything is as usual.
Vought The square in front of the building is packed with people.
A tall figure walked in along the crowd.
He was wearing a black trench coat, his chin was covered with messy beard, and his eyes were bloodshot.
There were bulges inside the windbreaker, making his figure look a bit bloated.
At first no one noticed him at all.
The Watt Building is the most famous landmark building in the United States, and all kinds of people come here to check in and take photos every day.
There were too many people wearing strange clothes. Such a slightly decadent man was really inconspicuous among the crowd.
The man didn't look around.
He walked straight through the crowd and came to the center of the square.
That is the place with the widest view in the entire square, and it is also in front of the fountain statue where most tourists gather.
The man stopped, unzipped his windbreaker expressionlessly, and pulled out a red plastic bucket from his arms.
He roughly unscrewed the cap, raised it above his head, and poured the liquid inside towards his head.
The liquid flowed all over his body along his messy hair, soaking his windbreaker, and quickly formed a puddle on the floor tiles under his feet.
Several tourists who were taking pictures around stopped and pointed curiously.
They thought it was New York a common performance art on the streets, and not many people paid attention to it. After all, it was still too free here.
Until a pungent smell dispersed along the breeze.
I don't know who screamed in terror.
That's the smell of gasoline!
Now everyone realized that something was wrong.
The originally crowded square seemed like a huge boulder had been thrown into it. The crowd screamed and dispersed in all directions. Between the pushing and stamping, a large vacuum was created around the man.
The man ignored the commotion around him.
He threw away the empty plastic bucket, pulled out a folded white cloth from his windbreaker pocket, and shook his hands vigorously.
It was a large banner with a few lines of bold words written in dazzling dark red paint.
Vought International is so heartless!
Homelander hypocritical scum!
I directed and acted in a gang fight that killed my fiancée!
The handwriting is crooked, but full of madness.
After a brief silence, an even bigger uproar broke out in the square.
In this information age, fear is often accompanied by curiosity.
The passers-by who retreated to a safe distance did not continue to run away. Instead, hundreds of people took out their mobile phones at the same time and pointed their cameras at the center of the square.
The flash lights are connected together.
The security personnel on the first floor of the Vought building finally responded.
Several burly security guards, mixed with two Supe on duty, pushed aside the crowd outside and rushed in.
"Put down what you're holding! Get down on the floor!"
The security guard Supe who took the lead yelled loudly and put all his strength on his feet to rush forward and subdue the person.
The man looked at the security guards rushing over, and then looked up at the towering Vought building.
There was no fear of death in his eyes, they were as calm as a dead corpse.
Under everyone's gaze, and in front of hundreds of cell phone cameras that were recording, the man took out a lighter from his trouser pocket without hesitation.
Click.
Orange flames burst out instantly, igniting the volatile gasoline in the air.
There was a muffled bang.
A dazzling fireball soared into the sky in the center of Vought Plaza, and the blazing fire wave directly forced back the security guards who tried to get closer.
The flames instantly swallowed up the tall figure, leaving only a black outline still holding a banner in the firelight.
The man writhed in agony in the fireball.
But he didn't fall.
Even though the high temperature has burned his hair, burned his vocal cords, and made his voice hoarse and cracked.
He still held the blood-stained banner tightly, roaring in the fire like a mad beast.
"Vought International is so heartless!"
"Homelander is a complete devil! My fiancée died so miserably!"
More panic broke out in the crowd.
Some people covered their children's eyes, while others stepped back while staring at the phone screen and pressing the record button.
The few security guards who rushed up were completely panicked.
This is simply not a situation they can handle.
In public, countless shots pointed directly at Homelander's accusations.
As long as this footage is circulated online, Vought International's reputation will collapse in an instant.
The security captain held down the headset with trembling hands and shouted at the top of his lungs, "Someone is setting himself on fire in the square to cause trouble!"